The invention relates to a molecular conjugate that includes a photosensitizer and a targeting moiety, and to methods of using the conjugate.
Infectious diseases continue to generate substantial medical problems. This is due, in part, to the emergence of strains of bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics, newly discovered viral diseases, and the spread of diseases caused by fungi and protozoa. For example, the recent emergence of multi-drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the underlying cause of tuberculosis, is generating a public health problem of epic proportion. Computer modeling studies and field surveys of geographically isolated human communities indicate that tuberculosis may become endemic in host populations having as few as 200 contiguous individuals (a dramatic contrast with diseases such as measles and smallpox, which are maintained only within communities having more than 200,000 contiguous individuals). Moreover, the immune response to M. tuberculosis is not eradicative; infected individuals may develop lifelong chronic diseases or latent infections that serve as long-standing reservoirs of contagion.